Azerbaijan Airlines said on Friday that the preliminary results of an investigation into the plane that crashed in Kazakhstan pointed to “physical and technical external interference”, amid growing speculation it was hit by a Russian air defence system.
Announcing the suspension of flights to 10 Russian airports, Azerbaijan Airlines said the decision was “based on the preliminary results of the investigation into the crash of the Embraer 190 aircraft operating the Baku-Grozny flight J2-8243 of Azerbaijan Airlines due to physical and technical external interference”.
A passenger on the plane told Reuters that there was at least one loud bang as it approached its original destination of Grozny in southern Russia.
Flight J2-8243 crashed on Wednesday in a ball of fire near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan after diverting from an area of southern Russia where Moscow has repeatedly used air defence systems against Ukrainian drones.
“I thought the plane was going to fall apart,” Subhonkul Rakhimov, one of the passengers, told Reuters from hospital, adding that he had begun to recite prayers and prepare for the end after hearing the bang.
At least 38 people were killed while 29 people survived.
